Kuan Yee Han’s Blog

I’m beginning to wonder if my lucky stars have dimmed their lights on me. Yet another unfortunate event happened to me less than 24 hours earlier. I thought that all the good stuff should be on the roll after the bad Hawaiian incident. And yet, my emotions and mental strengths are tested once again.

My car’s timing belt broke down and subsequently resulted in engine damage. Most likely solution is to change the whole engine. But there is no point to spend more than the car’s value to repair it. And hence, I have to let the car go and swallow down the bitterness in the heart.

Why o why does this has to happen to me? Why am I being the chosen unlucky chap again? It feels quite painful in the heart whenever I think about it. The Hawaiian case has more or less settled down and now, another one. It’s like putting salt on the old wound again. Ouch.

I have no choice but to take this emotional test again. I will stay strong but I really hope that the road ahead will not be gloomy again. Else, I really don’t know how to handle such things anymore. Sigh. I just feel like shouting out loud at those mountains high up. Arrrggggghhhh!!!

Anyway, I guess one thing to feel blessed is that I was safe throughout my roadtrip. I really don’t know what will happen if the car broke down in either Death Valley or other National Parks. I’ll be doomed for sure at that time. Luckily nothing happened during the trip.

Tercel, you’ll be deeply missed! It was a great road trip that we managed to go together before your engine gave way.

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So after eight hours of drive from the Bay Area and over 500 miles, my first stop was Hoover Dam. Also known as Boulder Dam, it is a concrete arch-gravity dam was on the border between the state of Arizona and Nevada, cutting across the Colorado River. The dam is located about 30 miles southeast of Las Vegas and it was named after Herbert Hoover (former President of the United States).

The construction began in 1931 (not long after the Great Depression) and was completed in 1935, more than two years ahead of schedule. At that time, it was the world’s largest hydroelectric power plant and also world’s largest concrete structure.

So what can you do there at Hoover Dam? There are a few tours that you can take which will bring you into the power plant. Otherwise, the scenery around the dam is pretty good enough.
This is the view of Hoover Dam, with the four water intake tower clearly visible. The foreground towers are in the state of Arizona, while the two in the background are in the state of Nevada.

Side view of the dam

Here’s a photo looking all the way down the dam. If you noticed, there are a line of cars on the right side. They looked very very small.

There are two tours that you can take. The first is the Power Plant Tour ($11) and the other is Hoover Dam Tour ($25). I went for the Power Plant Tour. You can check out the official website on more information on the tours. Go there early and you may end up getting a personal tour guide like I did. =p Hoover Dam Official Website

Inside the power plant, you can actually see gigantic turbine generators. They are very huge. You can see the size of the turbine as compared to the two men next to it.

There are also these two Winged Figures of the Republic. They are part of the architectures around the dam.

There’s also this old museum which you can visit. You can see the original view of the overall map of Colorado River and the few states terrains constructed in the 1940s. It was completed by one guy without using Google Maps or satellite or other advanced technology equipment.

What amazed me was how the whole construction of the dam. It was no easy feat given the technology that they had in the 1930s. However, they managed to create such a magnificent structure despite all those constrains. It’s nice to drive around the place and there are many spots where you can get nice shots. Oh ya, the road to the dam is restricted only to cars, no lorries or commercial vehicles allowed.

Before I sign off, Happy Birthday mom! Be happy always! =)

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I had a superbly awesomely great road trip over the last weekend. 18 Feb was President’s Day so I took leave on 15 Feb to make it a four day super long weekend. Initial plan was to travel to Yellowstone National Park with two other friends. However, that road trip didn’t materialize because they have project meetings and one couldn’t get leave approval from his boss.

Since I can get no one to join me for road trips for the weekend (tried asking around but the rest had other plans), I decided to embark on my greatest adventure so far. I will be the lone traveler. The places that I ended up visiting were planned quite last minute. I searched for the possible locations on Tuesday night and find out more on the hotels on Wednesday morning. I made room reservations on two of the nights on Thursday afternoon. I didn’t book any rooms for the first night. I decided to find accommodation when I reached the place since it was a Thursday. (I eventually realized that it wasn’t a wise idea not to make any reservations). I left on Thursday before midnight (yeap, it was Valentine’s Day night but I ended up spending with my car).

Knowing that I will be driving at least 8 hours to Las Vegas, I slept for about 3 ½ hours after work. A super quick Valentine’s Day dinner and off I went to sleep. And at about 11.30pm, I started on my adventure to the unfamiliar places. I drove to four states in four days, visiting nice spots along the way. I clocked nearly 2200 miles which translates to about 3500 km. On the first day alone, I drove more than 800 miles. It was really crazy and dangerous to travel alone, not forgetting driving alone in my car for over 30 hours. (I signed up for the marathon on Tuesday after which I decided to go for the trip. Must be the marathon that drove me crazy) However, I didn’t regret making the last minute decision to travel to those places. It was definitely a memorable and an unforgettable experience.

Here are the places that I visited over the four days-
1st Stop: Hoover Dam, Nevada
2nd Stop: Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada
3rd Stop: Zion National Park, Utah
4th Stop: Grand Canyon National Park. Arizona
5th Stop: Las Vegas, Nevada
6th Stop: Rhyolite Ghost Town, Nevada
7th Stop: Death Valley National Park, California

Here’s the map of the routes which I took. Still can’t believe that I have actually made the trip. I shall elaborate on those places in my coming blog posts. The route that I took looked like a pair of sunglasses or the infinity sign. How coincidence.

My Travel Route on Google Maps

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I just did something crazy today. How did the thought of signing up cross my mind in the first place? Whatever the case is, there is no turning back. I have paid for the registration fee which is not cheap by the way. So, I must now start preparing and training for one of the biggest challenges in my life- A full marathon.

I have never even completed a half marathon what more to say a full one. Why didn’t I signed up for the half? Ans: SOLD OUT. And the full marathon is 95% full. It’s not going to be easy but I’m sure it’ll be a memorable one. Why is it so? Because the marathon that I’ll be joining is Big Sur International Marathon. Never heard of it? Me too.

There was quote by this guy Bart Yasso: “If we were told that we could run only one marathon in our lifetime, Big Sur would have to be it.”

The view there is absolutely stunning. I have driven on Highway 1 passing by Big Sur during my trip to Los Angeles. Here are some photos to relive the memories. Imagine running for 5 hours with this spectacular view. Wouldn’t that be awesome? Okok. I’m trying hard to comfort myself that it is worth the run. Haha. Anyway, completing at least one full marathon has been one of my aspirations that I hope to achieve. Now, I have the opportunity to accomplish that.I guess that’s the reason why I decided to go for it out of a sudden.

Another angle

The marathon is about 26 miles, starting point: Big Sur and ending point: Carmel by the Sea. Anyone interested in doing a marathon, this one is definitely going to be a worthwhile one. There are still some places left. More details on the marathon:

Date: 27 April 2008 (Sunday)
Time: 6.45am
Start/Finish: Big Sur to Carmel. Run along scenic Highway One, the nation’s first nationally designated Scenic Highway. Course open 6 hours, a 13:40 pace.

Good thing is that 5 other friends/colleagues will be with me for the marathon. I need to complete the marathon within 6 hours so that I can receive the Big Sur International Marathon finishers’ medallion and receive a finisher’s certificate. I have two months to train for it. Gambatte!! Wish me luck in my first ever marathon.

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I shall continue my journey in Chicago. After a long walk to Navy Pier and around Navy Pier, we continued our marathon walk to Millennium Park. It was another half an hour walk in the cold winter. Brrrr.. I think that’s the reason I got fever after coming back from Chicago.
Anyway, this is the photo while we walked around the downtown. This is a pretty nice view with the old building, current building and going to be new building too. All in one shot.

After a freaking long cold walk, we finally reach Millennium Park. Yup, I’m sitting on Millennium Park. There’s this big area which was covered with snow. I think it was used for some concerts or outdoor performances/events.

And finally here’s the biggest highlight in Millennium Park; the giant mirror ball of Chicago. The landmark icon is very unique because it looks like a big circular mirror and every angle that you see will give you a different reflection of the city skyline. It was huge too. This is definitely the place not to be missed if you head to Chicago.

Here’s a photo of me inside the giant mirror ball. It’s hollow inside so you can get another view of it. Don’t you think it look cool?

That’s all for my Chicago one day trip. After that was another 4 hour bus ride back from Union Square to Madison. And then that’s the start of a one day sleep because of my super high fever at an imperfectly time. Why o why did I fell sick?!

P/S: I have recovered after 2 days of sleep before I flew off.

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